The Door's Always Open
by AnomalyDetected
Summary: Jenny Lewis is tired and lonely and upset, she can't shake the emptiness inside of her away. She misses Cutter and it seems only one person can truly understand. Connor Temple.


_Camping_.

It was the last thing on the team's mind, but when they heard of the latest weird creature sighting deep in the woods, it seemed like the only option they had to study the area and make sure it wasn't a prehistoric dinosaur from an anomaly.

"You know, I still don't fancy camping," Connor looked over at Abby.  
"What? We can huddle together for warmth," She mocked with a fond smile on her face.  
"Oi, shut up! A guy says one stupid thing and he's held to it for the rest of his life," He rolled his eyes.  
"_One_ stupid thing?" Becker raised his eyebrow, butting in. "I couldn't count the amount of stupid things you've said on my fingers _and_toes."  
"As if you're any better…" Connor mumbled, a small smile on his face.  
"All of you've said stupid things, now go pack your bags! I want you to report at the ARC at seven tonight. We'll go from there," A tired-looking Jenny Lewis commanded.  
"Yes, ma'am." Connor saluted, ignoring the glare from her and dashed off behind Abby.

* * *

"Connor, how many blankets do you _need_?" Abby quipped.  
"I can only sleep when I'm warm, Miss-My-Flat-Is- 40º-In-Summer." He exaggerated. "And I've only got three and one's to put between me and the sleeping bag for extra comfort."  
"I wonder what would happen if you got dropped in the middle of the wild with just a basic starter kit."  
"Oh, hurry up and finish packing, yeah? If we're late, Jenny will blame me."  
"I will too, Temple," She chuckled, pushing him gently before heading off to her bedroom to grab last-minute items.

Connor gave a fake laugh as she turned around before sitting down on the couch and waiting patiently, looking around at all the lizards. He'd gotten far too used to them, he used to hate all the noises they made and the smell and the excess of them. Now it was just…normal. It's what made home, _home_.

"Finally." He groaned as Abby came out. "Let's go get this over with and hope it's just for tonight. I am not getting bit by a thousand mosquitoes to find a grizzly bear after a week."  
"It'll be fun. Camping with the team!" Abby claimed.  
"Yeah. Me, Becker, and Danny all together with no breaks. Sounds bloody amazing."  
"Absolutely unmissable." She grinned, following behind Connor and closing the flat door.

* * *

By 7:00 pm the team was at the site in the woods near where the creature was last seen. Jenny had already gone over the checklist of what they needed and made sure they had it on hand. Guns, ammo, and tranquilizers being at the top of the list, as they were dubbed as the most important.

Tents were set up and a campfire was burning as they sat around it, making small talk and telling the most ridiculous ghost stories they could think of, much to Becker's dismay, as he saw them to be a bit childish. [Though he didn't refuse to share one he'd heard in the military].

Connor would glance at Jenny every now and then, catching the flashes of her frowns and obvious sadness taking over her face. Every time she thought someone looked though, a fake smile would fill up her face, but that distant look was always there like she was seeking out Cutter, a man that would never be here again. He could recognize it well…he had the same look in his eyes since the incident.

* * *

At 9:30pm, Danny suggested everyone settle down and try to get some rest, save for a couple soldiers who were appointed to look out duty. Connor crawled into his shared tent with Abby and lied down on his sleeping bag, bundled up in blankets and tried to get some sleep. He found it hard. Must be because he didn't have the jacket…he'd been sleeping with it for a week straight. Cutter's jacket, of course, it was one of the few things he decided to keep…and it truly made him feel better about the whole situation. It made him feel less alone and less lost.

Jenny, who had her own tent, couldn't sleep either. She hadn't slept well since he had died, though. It wasn't much of a surprise to her. After an hour of tossing and turning, she decided she needed to get out of the stupid stuffy tent, taking nothing with her but a thin blanket, she crawled out and lied down on the ground away from the soldiers, doing nothing but looking up at the stars. When tears filled her eyes, she cursed herself. _Could she do nothing but cry for a man who only loved her because he thought she was Claudia Brown?_

* * *

Connor pounded his fist against the ground. He wanted to sleep so much, but every time he tried, he saw the fire. How he detested that night, how he would do anything to forget it all. Looking over at Abby, it was tempting to crawl into her arms and find some sort of comfort, but he didn't want to scare her, so he sat up and wrapped a blanket around himself and left. He needed fresh air, he needed to see the stars, he needed to clear his mind.

Avoiding the soldiers, not wanting to talk to them, he lied his blanket down and took a deep breath. Except, he heard someone else's breath too and their choked back sobs. Looking across from himself, he saw her. The woman who was always strong breaking apart. _Jenny Lewis_.

"Jenny," Connor called, watching as she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Jenny…what's wrong?" He crawled over to her, bringing his blanket and wrapping around her. She seemed cold.  
"Go away, Connor, I don't want to talk about it." She shook her head and almost threw the blanket down too, but couldn't manage.  
"Then we won't talk," He claimed, lying down next to her. "but I'm not leaving."  
"_Why_?" Jenny practically hissed.  
"Because friends don't leave each other like this," Squirming his arm underneath her, he hugged her from the side.

There was nothing but silence as the two lied there for what seemed like hours until she gulped and wiped her eyes.

"I miss him," She admitted. "I miss Cutter so much. I didn't think it was possible to miss a man so much…and such a stupid man at that. He never listened! Never listened to anything except that daft brain of his…"

Connor chuckled, sniffling. "Yeah, I miss him too…and you're very right. Never did listen to anyone but himself…he was the stupidest genius I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"You're a close second though," She muttered, burying her head into his shoulder, tears flooding again. God, how she hated this.

"I know, I know…" He nodded, not sure what he knew about. The tears or that he was a stupid genius too. But it seemed to give her some type of comfort. "It'll be okay. I mean…we can carry on…we lived through Stephen's death and we can live through this one too…"

"How do you know?" Jenny was vulnerable and she didn't think she could survive this. She didn't know why Cutter impacted her so much, but he just did. He had a way of crawling into people's hearts without them knowing.

"My mum told me a story once…" He told her. "when me dad died in a fire, even though he had left me when I was eight, I cried and sulked and practically destroyed my room. I fell into depression, I guess, and one night after work at three in the morning, she came into my room and saw me ripping the one picture of us I had…and she dragged me outside and made me sit on the hood of the car with her and took me in her arms and told me a story…" Connor looked up at the stars now, they were rather visible tonight. "she told me that the dead were never really gone and they were never really dead. She said that they just got stuck with the stars and they were fighting to get back to us. When they're the brightest, that's when they're fighting the hardest…"

Taking her head out of his shoulder, she raised her eyes to the sky and gave a small smile. "They're bright tonight,"

"Exactly." He nodded. "He's fighting right now to get back to his team of idiots…and maybe one day he'll succeed. But if not, he's always looking down at us and he can never be gone unless we forget."

Jenny had to admit that Connor was absolutely brilliant. She never expected he'd be the one comforting her so well, no matter how sad he was himself. He was truly one of her best friends and she didn't know what she'd do without him. Which reminded her of the idea that'd been in her head all week.

"Connor?" She asked.  
"What's up?" He looked at her, questioningly.  
"I've—-I've been thinking about—-well—-leaving the ARC." She admitted, watching as his face sunk.  
"Leaving for a vacation?" Connor hoped, a small, nervous smile slipping onto his face. It'd be truly strange without her. She was the team leader, she was his friend.  
"No, Connor. I mean leaving…_forever_." Jenny answered. "I need a break. I need to leave. I need to start new and end this chapter. I died last week…and it made me realize that I can't waste my life waiting for the next time I die. I have to do something more with myself…I'm sorry."

Again, the silence haunted them and he didn't know what he was supposed to say. He had to be supportive, didn't he? But he didn't want to be. He wanted to be selfish and he wanted her to stay for him…because if anyone could understand him, anyone that wasn't Abby, it was Jenny.

But he had to be fair. After all, he didn't want that sadness to stay in her eyes forever and he didn't want her to die again…so he looked at her and gave her a smile.

"Don't apologize. Just go…resign and go have your life. Make it the best life you can make it…for Cutter and for me and for the rest of the team that loves you to bits." Connor reached over and moved the hair out of her face. "Just know that our doors are always open for you Jenny…and please…please don't forget us."

"Promise I won't."  
"Pinky promise?" He reached out his pinky to her and almost laughed as she did the same.  
"Pinky promise." She hadn't done that since she was thirteen years old, but she supposed Connor was always the one that could bring that side of her out.  
"You're one of my best friends, Jenny…and I'm really gonna miss you,"  
"You know what, Connor?" She said. "I'm going to miss you too."

The report turned out to be a hoax that a bunch of stupid campers made up, but Connor almost didn't mind as much as he thought he might. It gave him a new bond with Jenny and that would last the rest of their days, whether they saw each other or not.


End file.
